Tag Archive for: Brenna Pauly

Two PCC athletes crowned Provincial Champions

Holly on a prime lap. PCC photo.

It was a great day for PCC on Sunday when two athletes were crowned 2023 BC Provincial Criterium Champions. National Criterium Champion Holly Simonson won the elite women’s race and Kimberly Chen was the victor in the U19 race.

Kimberly (front left) in the second peloton in the final stages of the race. PCC photo

The 35 lap race, part of the Victoria Grand Prix, was held on a perfect sunny day in the Inner Harbour in Victoria. Holly, Kimberly and PCC teammate Brenna Pauly had strong races.

Brenna leading the peloton. PCC photo

Holly won most of the prime laps, Brenna led the pack for a good part of the race and Kimberly looked solid in front of the second peloton. In the final lap Holly sprinted to the finish and Brenna was just pipped to a podium and finished fourth.

At the start line. PCC Photo

Kimberly Chen – U19 BC Provincial Criterium Champion. Photo: Kevin Chen

TransRockies Gravel Royale

PCC Athlete Brenna Pauly recently rode in the TransRockies Gravel Royale. Here is her race report.

With road season coming to an end in July, it made sense for me to put some gravel events on my calendar for the end of the summer. I had a feeling that I would enjoy the atmosphere and style of gravel racing, but little did I know how much fun and suffering could be had at the same time!

While I have done many long gravel rides and even more road stage racing, putting the two together and entering a gravel stage race seemed like an exciting new challenge. It also suited my strengths on the bike. So that is how I came to find myself at the start line of the TransRockies Gravel Royale, a brand new four-day stage race, covering 400 km and 8000 m of elevation gain from Panorama to Fernie, B.C.

Stage 1, although short in distance, made up for it in climbing. After a long decent from Panorama I got into a good group on the first long climb of the day. The “climb” quickly turned into a rocky double track that eventually became very difficult to ride. To the point that everyone was off their bikes and hiking. The hiking continued into some even steeper single track. Once we made it over the top though, the views more than made up for the grueling climb. We were rewarded with a spectacular vista and a long winding gravel decent. At this point things were pretty split up and I ended up rolling the last 20 km solo to end the day in fourth.

Brenna with Red Truck sponsor John Ramsden

Stage 2 continued with a big climb early on. This time luckily there was no hiking and I set a good pace, catching a group a head of me. Over the top and it was a technical 4 km downhill single-track section. It was super-fast with some creek crossings, but I kept it rubber side down. Coming out of the single-track we were ejected onto buttery smooth dirt and it was 30 km home on wide open roads. Again, I found myself solo and rode in for fourth.

Stage 3, after finishing two days solo, my goal for the day was to get in a good group early on. Again, the climb got extremely steep at the end and we had to navigate some fresh sludge that washed out the route the night before. Off the decent though I found a few others and we worked well together to catch groups of two in front of us. We settled into a good rhythm and picked up the pace after the second check point, dropping the one other girl that was with us. One of the cool things of gravel racing is being able to work with a wide range of people in the race all with a common goal. The last 20 km was very fast and we caught the group ahead of us. It was an awesome day out on the bike and I rolled across the line in third place.

Brenna (right) on the podium after Stage 3 with Lauren Cantwell (left) and Rachel McBride

Stage 4, the final queen stage, 130 km and 2100 m of climbing was hands down one of the top five hardest bike races I have ever done. The course was unrelenting with big climbs and technical descents. My goal was to build on my performance from yesterday. I quickly found myself in a solid group and away we went. I was ahead of some of the other girls for a while, but they rode back up to my group with a few others. The middle climb of the day put me close to my limits, and I lost the group I was with on the decent, when I bobbled in a creek crossing. I took the opportunity to eat and drink and top up my fuel stores for the last climb of the day. I rode solo until two guys I had been riding with off and on all week, caught me and I hopped in with them. The last climb I found my groove, but I was close to my limits as I missed seeing a water trough on a little descent and went straight into it. I twisted my handlebars which took me a few minutes to untwist. Once I did though, I hopped on my bike and finished the last couple kilometres of the race. Again, rolling across the line in fourth.

Brenna Pauly takes the win at Burnt Bridge

Brenna Pauly (centre) on the podium

Last weekend PCC athlete Brenna Pauly competed in the last race of the Vancouver Island Gravel Series, the Burnt Bridge Classic. Here is her race report.

I have done a lot of gravel riding where the Burnt Bridge Classic is located but had never done a couple of the climbs there. Five kilometres into the race we hit the first major climb and I decided to ride tempo up the climb. I ended up riding away from the group and kept the momentum over the climb.

The course offered lots of variety of terrain and beautiful scenery which I was able to take in. I set a steady pace, passing riders that started in the earlier categories. With 15 kilometres to go there was a steep loose climb and rocky decent that was the last technical part of the race before six kilometres of rail trail to finish. After 70 kilometres of solo riding, I crossed the finish line winning the women’s race.  It was a great day of racing for all, with many smiling faces crossing the finishing line!

Busy summer of riding for Brenna Pauly

The 2021 BC Road Provincial Championships. Photo by TLBVelo Photography

Despite a disrupted race season PCC athlete Brenna Pauly has been busy occupying her time from adventure riding to road racing. 

Just like last year 2021 has been another unconventional year for bike racing. The theme of adaptability has come up on numerous occasions. I think it is an important lesson that can be taken away from this year both on and off the bike. While I thought I had already learnt that lesson, I was proved that I needed a little reminder.

The first part of the 2021 season started off like 2020. Cancelled bike races and ever-changing public health restrictions left lots of time to train and adventure by bike. I took to the gravel roads and continued to explore my own backyard. It amazes me that there are still many new routes to explore. With the anticipated return or racing in July, I undertook one last adventure for a little while. The second edition of the summer solstice ride. A gravel loop starting and ending in Victoria and heading west towards Jordan River, up to Lake Cowichan and back. Riding from dawn until dark on gravel roads the day went flawlessly. So smoothly that upon returning to Victoria with just over 300km on the odometer we decided to continue on to complete 320km (200 miles).

Brenna (left) with her Red Truck team at the provincials. Photo by TLBVelo Photography.

I then switched my focus to racing. Starting off small with local VCL races and building to the provincial championships and Tour de Concord over the last few weeks. While it has been so positive seeing teammates and friends and racing again, the path has been a little bumpy. Just when I thought I was gaining momentum race dates changed and got cancelled. It was frustrating at first to feel like we were going backwards again, but with Houshang’s help and a bike packing trip to remind me to just have fun riding, I am back on track. I am currently preparing for the National Road and Time trial championships in Quebec from September 10-12th. I am looking forward to putting all the training to use, and racing against some of the best in the country!

 

Training during a Pandemic – Brenna Pauly

In another post in our Training during a Pandemic series PCC athlete Brenna Pauly, found the time to explore trails and rack up mega miles on her bike.

While the last few months have redefined the meaning of “normal”, it has been easy to mourn the loss of so many events and races that usually define the summer racing calendar. For me things started to change when I was on my way home from two months of warm weather training in Arizona. I got an email saying that our team camp that was scheduled to happen in a couple weeks in California was cancelled. At this time, it seemed like a premature decision, but in hindsight it was the best call that the team could have made.

 

No one could have predicted what would follow in the coming days, as one race after the next got cancelled and the rules surrounding our day to day lives shifted. While at first the thought of not having a race season after spending the winter preparing for one was very disappointing, my bike became the only constant in the ever-changing world during the pandemic.

I fell into a “COVID routine” which entailed packing my bar bag full of snacks and pointing my bike in the direction of the road the least travelled. I realized quickly that all of my winter training was not going to be lost, just shifted to using it to adventure. I got to explore the roads less travelled around southern Vancouver Island during a time that I usually am far away from home. Having that mental shift made me able to push the limits of my endurance training all while having fun.

 

 

I always knew that I loved riding my bike, but these last few months have solidified that for me. With no races on the horizon I shifted back into building that endurance base. I have now ridden almost as much in six months as I would in a year and have done my three longest rides ever over the last four months culminating in the craziest and hardest bike ride I have ever done – 290 km of gravel logging roads from Lake Cowichan to Port Alberni and back in one day. I knew that I was physically prepared, but three flats and two hike-a-bike sections in the first 80 km of a route with limited bail out options left me testing my mental strength on the bike. It is definitely a ride that I would have never even thought possible last year, and one that I will not forget for a long time. I am already planning the next one.

So, while 2020 has been more different than anyone could have ever predicted, I have also had many opportunities come up that were not possible in other years. I think I am more excited now to get back to racing when it is safe and in whatever capacity possible. With time trials starting again I look forward to putting all that riding into going fast on the bike!

 

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